A Classic Combo
Peanut butter and jelly make for an enduring combo that never fails to comfort, and when slathered between two slices of bread somehow has the ability to make for a full meal—that salty peanut butter is the top note of the meal and the jelly makes for the sweet dessert-like ending. So it’s no wonder that PB&J has been extended to just about everything: cake, cookies, bars, candy, s’mores—pretty much any sweet blank canvas has been PB&J-ified at one time or another.
PB&J…In a Scone?
When the craving for scones recently struck, however, a quick search yielded VERY few peanut butter and jelly scones, and even fewer recipes that manage to let both the peanut butter and the jelly shine through to achieve their fullest and saltiest, sweetest potential. Many scone recipes relied on a soupy drizzle of peanut butter glaze, or sandwiched a shmear of peanut butter and jelly between a scone cut lengthwise. Suboptimal if you ask me. I saw an important hole in the world that needed to be filled: a buttery, flakey scone shot through with peanut butter and jelly, baked to achieve the perfect molten ratios of PB and J and given the same attention of many of our favorite PB&J desserts hath already been given! Well, these are those scones!!! The dough has just the right amount of fat—spring for the sour cream to make a perfectly fluffy and flaky dough. We tried making these with Greek yogurt, and they’re just not the same. Then little nuggets of peanut butter that have been pre-portioned and frozen are mixed into the dough so they distribute evenly and maintain a recognizably peanutty profile. A large criss-cross moat-like indentation is made in the tops of the scones to fill with your jelly of choice, and the whole thing gets sprinkled with peanut sugar. As you can imagine, these got gobbled the first time we made them. Follow the recipe, and you’ll see what we mean.
Peanut Butter & Jelly Scones: Recipe Instructions
First, make your peanut butter chunks. On a sheet pan lined with parchment paper, add 24 dollops of peanut butter, each about 1 teaspoon. Place in the freezer and allow to harden for at least 1 hour, but preferably 3 hours. You can also do this overnight.
In a food processor, pulse the dry ingredients together (2 cups all purpose flour, 1 tablespoon baking powder, ¼ cup sugar, ½ teaspoon salt). Sprinkle in the butter cubes and pulse until the mixture resembles coarse crumbs with a few slightly larger butter lumps, about 12 pulses. If you don’t have a food processor, whisk the dry ingredients together in a bowl, and cut in the butter using 2 butter knives or a pastry blender. Transfer to a mixing bowl.
Next, process the peanuts until you have a mix of fine and coarse crumbs. Mix with 1 tablespoon of sugar and set aside.
Mix the beaten egg yolk with the sour cream.
Stir into the dry mixture to make the dough.
At this point, if the dough is still dry and not coming together, drizzle in 3 tablespoons of milk 1 tablespoon at a time until the dough is formed (you may not need all 3 tablespoons). Just before the dough fully comes together, sprinkle over the frozen peanut butter chunks.
Gently mix with your hands to bring the dough together and distribute the peanut butter chunks. They’ll smear a little bit, but try to keep them as whole as possible. Do not overwork the dough. As soon as the dough is cohesive enough to form into scones, you’re good to go. On a floured surface, shape the dough into a square, about 1 inch thick.
Cut the large square into 4 smaller squares, and then cut each small square in half on the diagonal to form 8 triangles.
Transfer the scones to a parchment lined baking sheet, spaced a couple inches apart.
Using your fingers, make a crosshatch in each scone with your finger. You’re making a “well” to put the jam into. Using a spoon, carefully spoon the jam into the well. If you need to soften your jam to do this, microwave it for 15 seconds to loosen it up. Brush the scones with the 2 tablespoons of milk, avoiding the jelly, and sprinkle with the peanut sugar.
Bake the scones at 425 degrees F until the tops are light brown, 15-18 minutes. Cool on a wire rack for 10 minutes before serving. Eat these peanut butter and jelly scones with a tall glass of milk!
